Real Estate Investing - Protect Your Privacy

An irate tenant or disgruntled home-buyer, with the help of a willing attorney, can readily prompt a property search for a property owner in public records. The target of the search becomes someone who has deep-pockets as reflected in real estate assets.

Land trusts are available in most states, though they differ in structure and extent of protection.

Land trusts are nothing more than a legal entity that hold title to a property. One of the advantages to a land trust is that the owner of record is not you!

A land trust is simply transfer of a property out of your name and placed into another entity. The land trust names a trustee to manage the trust, such as your lawyer, a friend, or relative with a different last name. The trust then owns the property, and your name is omitted from the ownership record (which is the deed or title).

But you still own the trust. You are the beneficiary of the trust.

Obviously, it is a little more complicated than that, but here's the bottom line. If Suzy Suehappy is aggravated with you for some reason and begins looking for your assets of record, she will have a hard time finding what you own if each of your properties are recorded in a separate land trust. Your properties would be listed under the name of the trust rather than yours. Your name would never appear in the records if each of your properties were held in the various names of your trusts.

If you owned 123 Main Street where Suzy Suehappy lives, and your name is John Lucky, Suzy might go to the county clerk's office to ask for all the property that John Lucky owns. The search would be fruitless because your name could not be found. Suzy Suehappy would discover that the property is owned by 123 Main Street Trust (or whatever you wanted to name it). She would also find that no other properties are owned by 123 Main Street Trust.

But if habitual trouble-maker Suzy Suehappy has a problem with property owner Jane Notsolucky, and finds all of her property of record listings in Jane's name, she has an easier target for a lawsuit.

If an actual suit is brought against you by Suzy Suehappy, her attorney can demand in deposition a listing of all your property. However, in preliminary discovery efforts by Suzy or her attorney in perusing the county clerk records, maintaining anonymity can be an advantageous deterrent in asset protection.

Once I had a tenant who stumbled onto the staircase landing of his second-story apartment house while drunk, broke the rail, and fell to the ground with some minor injury. He approached a prominent sue-crazy lawyer in town about his case, but I was fortunate not to face an expensive defense of myself because I was not high-profile in the county records. I assume that a review of the records did not disclose my personal name on real estate properties, and I was considered to have no recorded real assets.

Asset protection has to be a concern of real estate investing, and the use of land trusts might be a consideration. I find, however, that few attorneys understand land trusts, and need education in this specialty of the law.

Phil Speer, Ph.D., started his real estate investing career 25 years ago. Without the availability of credit and using only a $10 bill, he purchased $1 million in properties in his first year, and had accumulated $10 million in properties by his fourth year. http://www.CashinHouses.com/

He was featured in a Wall St.Journal editorial as most successful investor in the Nothing Down Real Estate Movement, and was honored with a Caribbean cruise as top investor of the year. In his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, he has been a businessman and Human Resources Consultant for 30 years. He is an author, speaker and seminar director. To learn how to profit in real estate investing, even without cash or credit, read his report at http://www.Real--Estate--Cours e.com/nomoneydown/flipping.html/ Subscription is free to his Fix-up Ezine. He and other contributing authors provide free articles and resources on real estate investing at his online "Academy of Advanced Real Estate Investing Techniques" at http://www.AAREIT.com/

---

Empty Nesters Flock To Inner City

Babyboomers whose children have left home, commonly known as "empty-nesters"... Read More

Juggling The Day With A Deal

Doing deals with sellers is why you went into lease... Read More

What is Tax-Deferred Exchange?

Under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code, owners of... Read More

Buying Foreclosures - Knowing Why Helps You Buy

One big potential deal-killer in buying foreclosures is the homeowner.... Read More

Notify Them When Youre Moving

One of your first steps, when you're getting ready to... Read More

Purchasing Property With No Money Down: My Personal Experience

Have you ever seen those infomercials about buying houses with... Read More

Appraisal vs. Market Value: How to Avoid Pitfalls in the Sale of Your Home

When you sell your home, appraisers use comps (comparable market... Read More

Buyers Closing Cost

Buyers, borrower, closing costs can be divided into two categories.... Read More

Real Estate Remains A Strong Investment

Opportunities to make big, quick profits in residential real estate... Read More

Real Estate Investment Requires A Team

I had a hard time at first with real estate... Read More

Prepare Your House for a Successful Sale

Whether you list with an agent or sell on your... Read More

Purchasing International Real Estate

Interested in investing somewhere other than your back yard?Management companies... Read More

Greed Can Cost You Your Shirt!

The proper action when things are going well is to... Read More

How to Choose Your Real Estate Lender

Because you need quick action when applying for a real... Read More

Do You Want To Sell Your Rehabs Fast?

That's an obvious question ? we all do! So what... Read More

Kings Bay Georgia Real Estate - An Amusing Tale About a Real Estate Agent

This story is true and not meant to hurt anyone,... Read More

Family Feud with an Auction Deadline ? Adventures in Probate/ Estate Purchases

One of our investor students told us of an interesting... Read More

Reinventing Real Estate, Part 1: Online and Empowered Consumers Are Taking Charge and Paying Less

For decades, the real estate world turned in a predictable... Read More

An Overview of Easements

Title insurance is generally associated with insuring a purchaser's or... Read More

Selling Property - Valuing Your Property

Selling property privately has many advantages over using an estate... Read More

Homes in Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill is located right in the middle of North... Read More

Be Careful - A Real Estate Agent Could Lead You Astray

The real estate agent is a valuable source of potential... Read More

Get Rich With Mobile Homes

Does the myth that mobile homes depreciate in value keep... Read More

What Should I Do If My Home Isnt Selling?

Suppose you've been trying to sell your home for months.... Read More

Panama is Hot - A World Class Retirement Haven Thats Ripe For Profitable Real Estate Investment

If you've followed any of the major survey agencies around... Read More

Credit Help: Buying Real Estate -- Not the Same as Buying Cars

Credit for Buying Real Estate is Different than Credit for... Read More

The Many Benefits Of Lease Purchasing

Lease Purchasing affords wonderful benefits and opportunities to sellers, buyers,... Read More

What Is a CMA

"CMA" is an abbreviation real estate agents use for a... Read More

How To Find Your Dream Home In Belize

Shopping for property in Belize is not as simple an... Read More

Real Estate Investing ? The Job Escape

Real estate investing is pretty unusual in lots of ways.... Read More

Jacksonville Real Estate Listings

With over 30,000 residents, Jacksonville in central Arkansas is a... Read More

Are You Really A Twenty First Century Investor

Today's residential real estate market for investors has become very... Read More

Golf and Waterfront Living: Live, Play, Relax

With today's planned lifestyle communities, golf and boating enthusiasts have... Read More